HEILSBRONN – Roger Hodgson, known as the legendary voice and head of “Supertramp,” fascinated the 500 visitors of the ninth “Heilsbronner Kulturfest” without any effort.

As soon as the 59-year-old singer and songwriter entered the stage, he enraptured his fans to make standing ovations. Those who still sat on their seat at the latest stood up with the first sounds of the mouth organ of the hit “Take the long way home”. And with a breathtaking speed, he vaulted them back to the eighties.

The fact that he hardly has new songs in his repertoire doesn’t bother him in the slightest: for him, they are all a part of the soundtrack of his life, as he admitted during the concert. He can be sure that this is also true for most of his fans. They really enjoy that nearly every song he plays is a catchy song to which you can easily sing along with. To him who wrote the songs, they are still as fresh and new, he pointed out, albeit he owes himself to take a break from one or two songs for some shows. Together with the Canadian Aaron MacDonald, Hodgson succeeded in creating a sound without electric guitar and percussion, which is very close to the original sound that his fans were longing to hear. MacDonald’s voice not only perfectly harmonizes with Hodgson’s voice, but he also played keyboard, various saxophones, and mouth organ. “The legendary voice of Supertramp” himself was in a very good voice and accompanied his songs either with grand piano, keyboard, or acoustic guitars.

   Photo: Walter Lohner

Hodgson put his shoulder on the wheel for his fans from the beginning and performed hits like “The Logical Song”, “Hide in your shell” and “Lovers in the wind” before the intermission. Afterwards he fired up the audience with hits like “Breakfast in America,” and now really everyone was fully aware of the fact that this man is not in need of setting aside his hits for the encore. Hodgson had a good rapport with the audience very easily and he invited them to sing and to dance and he made them to be all smiles. Somehow, you could have the feeling as if an old acquaintance played some songs from the good old times in your living room.

It seemed as if hardly any time passed by between the eighties and this Sunday evening in Heilsbronn: in the heart, not only the musicians stay forever young, but also their fans.

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Photo: Walter Lohner